Building Smarter and Better, local governments boost CALD Smart Mobility Network

“It is at the level of the city – of the local governments in general – that the government is most felt by the people. For this reason, if we want to make immediate and substantive impact on the quality of lives of the citizens, we have to start with local governments… This is where we should begin the process of societal transformation,” said Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, chairperson of CALD and president of the Liberal Party of the Philippines, during the opening session of the CALD Smart Mobility Writeshop held in Bangkok, Thailand on 21-22 September 2022.

With the theme “Smart Mobility in Asia: Emerging Trends, Opportunities and Challenges,” CALD convened transportation experts as well as CALD-member and local government representatives to discuss smart mobility updates in the region, share best practices in terms of local government plans and actions, and finalize the smart mobility baseline study that will serve as a reference guide for the local governments and smart mobility advocates.

As members of the CALD Smart Mobility Network, the writers and local government officials from the four target countries (Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand) presented the general situation of transportation in key urban areas, provided an overview of the national and local policies that promote smart mobility solutions, and shared the challenges in implementing policies and smart mobility interventions.

Emerging Trends and Challenges

According to Chala Anusuriya from the Democrat Party, Thailand has a 20-year national strategy called “Thailand 4.0” which aims to transform the country into a high-income nation and improve the quality of life in urban centres. Smart mobility is emphasized in this plan together with smart governance, smart living, smart environment, among others. The success of the implementation depends on the leadership and political will of the head of the government and head of the planning agency in order influence the compliance of other institutions.

Leadership, indeed, drives mobility ideas to fruition and that is the case in Trenggalek City, Indonesia. Mayor Mochamad Nur Arifin explained that his motivation to create a smart community in his province is based on the principles of Sukarno, the first President of Indonesia, who emphasized public welfare. The mayor said that while he oversees the implementation process, he values and follows a bottom-up approach to engage and empower communities and provide affordable and accessible public transport. The expansion of bike lanes, smart benches and mulitple wifi zones are some of the initial projects he implemented to transform Trenggalek into a smart, green, and climate neutral city.

Indonesia and Thailand have shown vision in terms of smart mobility plans and the impact of good governance and effective leadership. It’s hard to imagine the same for the Philippines said Ira Cruz, Director of AltMobilityPH, an advocacy group which promotes sensible and people-centered policies in mobility. The reality is 80% of road space in Metro Manila are occupied by private vehicles and 88% of the population living in the city do not even own private vehicles.

Moreover, key players in the realm of transport institutions in the Philippines cannot really define the life of real commuters. While there are policies intended to address the challenges of transportation and congestion in the city, these policies are suggestive rather than prescriptive. However, Cruz explained that the continuing discussion of stakeholders, as well as the active participation of civil society and progressive ideas of local governments, can help change mindsets in mobility development.

This kind of mindset prompted Taiwan to focus on leading smart city solutions development in the region. Over the recent years, it has been pushing for innovative urban development and efficient urban ecosystem.

However, various mobility challenges such as unnecessary traffic lights and mishandled traffic management still confront them said Ellie Kan, Sales Manager of the International Division of Institute for Information Industry, Smart City Taiwan. Kan shared the current developments and mobility issues in three key urban areas.

Tainan, an architecturally old city, and popular to domestic and foreign tourists, is facing problems on illegal parking due to the surge of tourists and outdated urban planning. At the moment, it does not have a metro system and citizens still prefer private vehicles and scooters as the primary mode of transportation.

Taipei and Kaohsiung, on the other hand, are showing positive mobility gains over the years. Taipei operates the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), which is very popular and accessible to most residents, as well as other high-quality transportation options like buses and shareable bikes and scooters. While Kaohsiung is “blessed with as many transit resources, [and] has continued to make leaps and bounds in recent years with regard to its smart mobility options.” The Kaohsiung City Government has been actively promoting electric scooters and vehicles (EV) and starting July 2022, they are implementing a law that requires every new building to provide a space for EV charging stations.

Next Steps

According to Kiat Sittheeamorn, Member of Parliament and chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Democrat Party Thailand: “It must be said that the principles and goals of smart city in general, and of smart mobility in particular, are very much in line with the values of CALD as a liberal and democratic network of political parties.  As liberals and democrats, we are the most receptive to change brought about by technological developments…We are doing this because we want a better quality of life for our people.  After all, the people should be front and centre in all our efforts to transform our urban areas into cities of the future.”

After the baseline study publication, CALD will be preparing for Phase II of its Smart Mobility Project, which will focus on the needs and vision of the people in select local governments under the watch of CALD member parties from Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.

The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) Smart Mobility Project is a three-year program (2022-2024) that aims to showcase smart mobility solutions in the region by extending support to select local governments governed by CALD member-parties. CALD recognizes the need for clear guidelines to assess mobility behavior, generate applicable plans, and to provide suitable mobility options.